Network-based information systems use Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI's) to identify and organize resources within their particular information spaces. The set of possible URI's in an information space may be quite large, particular when dealing with the World Wide Web. Due to the large number of possible URI's, it is sometimes convenient to use a compact notation for describing sets of structurally similar URI's.
URI Templates provide this compact notation by introducing the concept of variables into the URI. In URI Template syntax used herein, a variable is written in {curlyBraces} and represents a hole or “point of abstraction” in the URI into which concrete values can substituted. Accordingly, URI templates provide a flexible and convenient mechanism for representing multiple URIs using a single expression.